Customize Android Contacts app to Add Relationship b/w Two Contacts

Last year, Google updated its intelligent assistant Google Now, adding the ability to recognize commands based on the relation the contact is to you. So you can call or text your contacts with specified relationship easier than ever. Well that is about Google Now – but did you know there’s also a Relationships feature hidden in Android’s Contacts app?

The feature helps you keep track of specific details about various people in your contacts list, like, how you happen to know a certain contact and how is he/she related to your friends and family. This Relationships tool comes handy especially if you have an address book full of business contacts, for instance.

Here’s how you can make use of this feature to add relationship information to individual contact cards.

Step 1: Open your phone’s Contacts app and tap on a name to view that particular contact’s details. If you don’t have any cards in your contacts list, create a new one.

Step 2: Tap the “Edit” button (represented by a pencil icon).

Step 3: Scroll down and tap “Add Another Field.”

Step 4: Once there, select “Relationship” from the pop-up menu that appears.

Step 5: Click the Relationship line, and enter a person’s name. If you’re trying to add someone who’s already in your contacts list, make sure you spell the name exactly as saved on your address book.

Step 6: Next, tap on the drop-down menu to the right of the name you just entered. It will show you various relationships — friend, manager, assistant, brother, sister, to name a few.

Step 7: Choose from one of these options depending on how that person is related to the contact you entered above.

Step 8: If you don’t see any appropriate relationship in the drop-down menu, head over to the bottom of the menu then tap “Custom.” Choose a suitable description to relate the two contacts, then tap OK.

Step 9: Once you’re done editing the card, tap the check mark in the upper left corner to save your changes.

Now, whenever you pop open the contact card of that person, you’ll immediately recognize them from the relation added. One thing worth mentioning here is that relationships don’t work both ways, unfortunately. Which means, if you update Sam’s card to list Nick as a relation, the change won’t show up in Nick’s card; you’ll have to add the relationship to latter’s card manually.

Gohar is the lead editor at TechFrag. He has a wide range of interests when it comes to tech but he's currently spending a big chunk of his time writing about privacy, cyber security, and anything policy related.